Five novels that riff on—and rip off—Shakespeare

Lois Leveen is the award-winning author of The Secrets of Mary Bowser and Juliet's Nurse.

[The Page 69 Test: Juliet's Nurse; Writers Read: Lois Leveen (October 2014)]

In 2014, for the Daily Beast, Leveen tagged five books that share a shameless use of Shakespeare as a source, including:

A Thousand Acres by Jane Smiley

Lear gave away his kingdom. Larry Cook turned his family farm into a corporation. The latter might seem far less cataclysmic, but in translating Shakespeare’s tragedy to the ’70s American heartland, Smiley explores the petty ways in which family members tear each other, and ultimately themselves, apart. The story is narrated by Ginny, the eldest of Larry’s three adult daughters—a provocative choice, given that Shakespeare’s Goneril is too ruthless to elicit much sympathy. But Ginny’s version of events isn’t so much an exoneration of her own actions as an exploration of what an individual lets herself know or not know about the past, and an indictment of what she chooses to reveal or withhold in her telling. Which is pretty much the story of every family you ever met.

Read about another entry on the list.

A Thousand Acres is among Stacey Swann's seven novels about family members making each other miserable, Robert McCrum's ten top Shakespearean books, Rachel Mans McKenny's eleven books about midwesterners who aren’t trying to be nice, Hannah Beckerman's top ten toxic families in fiction, Brian Boone's five books that offer a brand new take on pre-existing works, Edward Docx's top ten Shakespearean stories in modern fiction, Emma Donoghue's six best books, Anne Tyler's six favorite books, Sally O'Reilly ten top novels inspired by Shakespeare, Alexia Nader's nine favorite books about unhappy families, and John Mullan's top ten twice-told tales.

--Marshal Zeringue